Piano hammer-rail and means for operating the same.



APPLIGATION FILED APR. 10, 1907.

Patented Jan. 11,1910.

- UNITED STATES PigrENT oFFIoE.

GEORGE P. BRAND AND FREDERICK W. WINTER, OF NEW YORK, Ni Y.

PIANO HAMMER-BAIL AND MEANS FOR OPERATING THE'SAME.

Specification or Letters Patent.

Application filed April 10, 1907.

Patented Jan. 11, 19 1). Serial No. 367,313.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE P. BRAND and FREDERICK W. \VIn'rnn, citizens of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Bronx, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piano Hammer- Rails and Means for Operating the Same, of which the following is a specification.

Our improvements relate to pianos adapted to be played either by hand in the ordinary manner or automatically by pneumatic apparatus actuated and controlled by a perforated music sheet through the medium of a tracker bar, as is well known in the art.

The object is to afford means whereby a piano rail adapted to be operated by a pedal in the ordinar manner when the piano is played manual y, may also be actuated pneumatically when the piano is used as an'automatic player.

The invention consists essentially of a longitudinally split rail the main portion of which is operated by pedal I'O(S connected with the usual pedal mechanism so that the rail as a whole may be used and o erated in the manner usual in pianos p ayed manually,said main ortion of the rail having pivotally attache to it one or more secondary sections adapted to be operatedautomatically independent of the main portion of the rail by pneumatic means, said secondary pivotally supported section r sections constituting in either case the contact or contacts against which the hammer shanks rest, and by which the stroke of the hammers is prescribed and limited, subs antially as hereinafter set forth.

By reference we provide the main portion 0 the rail with two such pivotally supported contact sections or rests for the hammer shanks, each 0 aerated by its own pneumatic and independently controlled, one section representing the treble and the other the bass, and we have herein showita'nddescribed this arrangement of parts, it being understood however that we do not necessarily limit ourselves thereto since a single pivoted contact section may be used in con nnction with the main portion of the rail if desired without departing from the spirit and intent of our invention in this respect.

In the accom anying drawings, Figure 1, is a sectional e evation of parts essential to a rod 17 insertet the practical applicationof our invention;

Fig. 2, is a sectional view taken uponplaue of line 22Fig. 1; Fig.3, is a top view of the rail the neumatics beingshown in horizontal Section, portions of, the rail being no being athipted to be used as. an ordinary i0 hammer rail when the piano is played manually. The rail It constitutes theiiniin iianis- SllTlO' rail and has mounted thereon illC'tWU auxiliary rails cc which constitute.the-contacts or rests for the hammer shanks 14, said '55 auxiliary rails being pivotally mounted, as

at 0 o, and normally resting againstthe rail R. .These rests c, c, arefaced with felt or other soft material for dir ct contact with the hammer shanks, each rest prei'cr- W ably extending approximately one half the length of the main portion of the rail, to ailord a bass section indc iendent of the treble section. The outer end of each ection or rest (7, is pivotally connected with the 8b movable member 2 of a pneumatic l as by l in the outer end of the section and projecting through a bearing (:11 said movable memberp, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 3, of the drawings. The "C- stationary member )1, of the .pnet-imatic l is rigidly secured as by :1 lug or block to the piano frame or other stationary part of the piano. and has attached to it a valve."

chest 11, with the valve chamber a, of which it coinimniicatcs through a in Fig. 9. i

port 72*, shown In the. valve chamber (1., and attached to a common stem I), are two valve disks h, and F -the first Z1, llSilll ,norinally upon a J t seat 0?, in the Pfltiltltlllflfl betwecu'thc val ica chamber a", and the dia ihragin chamber a", in which latter is situated the button 7 attached to the lower end of the SlQGl'llfIJ,

said button resting upon the diaphragm a The stem 6 is centralized by a guide af, and itsvalve disk b*, is opposed to a port a which when open connects the valve chamher a, with the atmosphere. The upper portion of the diaphragm chamber a comin niunicates through a port a", with a conduit a, leading to a tension chest, while the lower portion of said diaphragm chamber below the diaphragm a communicates through a duct (1", and tube a, with a push button valve e, or equivalent, conveniently situated upon or with relation to the front. of the piano. It is obvious that if desired air may be admitted to the duct a, through a duct provided for the purpose in a tracker bar over which asuitably prepared perforated music sheet is passed, in lieu of the linger button valve n, with like result in so far as the operation ofthe parts is concerned.

The piano actions are of the usual construction and arrangement, H representing a hammer, 11 the shank, and it, the butt thereof, and D a damper resting against the string S.

As before intimated when the piano is ilayed manually the rail R as a whole may be operated by a pedal in the usual manner, since the pneumatics being normally in communication With the atmosphere through the ports and a", will readily allow their movab e members p, to adapt themselves to the movements of the rail R. \Vhen however the piano is to be played automatically, the main portion of the rail. is stationary and each rest a, is advanced as required through the medium of the valve chest a and connections. Thus air being admitted to the air duct a", either through the valve 4) or throu h a duct in a tracker bar controlled by a periorated music sheet as before stated, raiscsthe diaphragm a, causing the stem 1), to lift the disk I), from its seat a at the same time closing the port a by means of the valve disk b As a result the valve chamber is closed to the atmosphere and opened to the tension throu h the port a diaphra m chamber a, ans conduit a thereby eflating the pneumatic P. The defiation of the pneumatic P causes its movable member p, to swing the rest a, on its pivot,

so as to advance the upper edge of the rest toward the piano strings and thereby restrict the thrust of the hammers, as will be readily understood.

hen the air is cut off from the underside of the diaphra m a (which is formed with the usual bleed hole) the latter allows the stem 6 and valve disks L and I), to descend to their normal positions, above described, thereby cutting off the tension from the neumatic and admitting air to it b which it is again inflated, so that its movab e member swings the rest c, back to its normal position against the main portion 1".

It will thus be seen that the hammer rail is equally and inde endently adapted to be operated mechanically by pedal, or by pneumatic means, which is the whole object of my invention.

hat we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In combination with a piano action, a hammer rail and a rest for the hammer shanks, said rail and rest com )rising two longitudinally separated pivotal ly mounted sections, one of which is movable with or independent of the other, a pneumatic disposed at the end of and in the horizontal plane with the end of one of said sections, and means connected with the end of one of said sections and extending in the direction of the length thereof and having its outer end mounted in a bearing on the movable member of the pneumatic.

2. In combination with a piano action, a pneumatic, ahammer rail adapted to be moved by edal mechanism, sup )lemental sectional rails pivotally mounted or movement with or independent of the hammer rail proper, and a rod inserted at one end in one of said sectional rails and projecting beyond the same in the direction of the length thereof and directly connected with the movable member of the pneumatic.

3. In combination with a piano action, and a pneumatic, a hammer rail having a portion adapted to be moved by pedal mechanism, two longitudinally separated sections, one of said sections being movable inde endently of the other, and a direct removable connection between one of said sections'and the pneumatic and extending in the lon itudinal direction of and beyond the end 0 the section to which it is connected.

4. The combination with a piano action, of a hammer rail, :1 rest for the hammer shanks, movable with or independently of said rail,

a rod inserted at one end in said rest'andprojecting in' the direction of the length thereof, and a pneumatic at the end of said rest and having a bearing on its movable member in which the other'end of said rod is received.

"GEORGE P. BRAND. FREDERICK w. WINTER.

Witnesses:

GEO. WM. MIATT, D. V. GARDNER. 

